Group: Fiscal cliff could devastate Rocky Mountain and other national parks

Dec. 12, 2012

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Search and rescue operations in Rocky Mountain National Park and numerous other services in national parks across the country could be severely curtailed if the United States goes over the fiscal cliff, a group of National Park Service retirees warned Wednesday.

Worst-case scenario, the fiscal cliff sequester could mean an 8.3 percent cut in national park budgets, meaning about 9,000 seasonal park rangers — the backbone of search and rescue operations — may not be hired next year, the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees announced.

That potential NPS budget cut totals nearly $190 million, including about $150 million for seasonal rangers and other employees nationwide in 2013.

“Small parks could actually close if they don’t have a way to maintain infrastructure or serve visitors,” said coalition spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo, former superintendent of Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction. “We’re talking about dozens and dozens of campgrounds, trails, trails maintenance, building infrastructure maintenance — there is just very little wiggle room. Some parks might close. Popular facilities might have to close.”

That could include visitor centers, emergency services and other services park visitors have come to expect when they visit a national park.

Anzelmo said the coalition, composed of 850 retired NPS employees, contacted individual parks to inquire about how the dramatic budget cuts would impact them, but the parks were unable to speculate.

The fiscal cliff, she said, “is one of the single biggest threats to the entire U.S. National Park System if sequestration occurs. It’s counter-intuitive in so many ways because parks generate around $31 billion in private sector spending.”

A representative of Rocky Mountain National Park could not be reached for comment.